And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.
The princes were sitting in the scribe's chamber in the king's house when Baruch was brought to them with the roll he had already read to the people, and they asked him to sit down and read Jeremiah's written message of reproof aloud in their hearing, which he did. That reading carried out God's purpose that Judah might hear all the evil purposed against them, that every man might return from his evil way, and that He might forgive their iniquity and sin. Hearing the words made the princes afraid, so they said they would surely tell the king all the words, asked Baruch how he wrote all the words at Jeremiah's mouth, and told Baruch and Jeremiah to go hide where no one knew.
Hearing did not guarantee acceptance, for the people would not receive the reproofs the Lord had sent them. The king later rejected the roll, cutting it with a penknife and burning it in the fire despite intercession. The message could not be destroyed, for God commanded that all the former words be written on another roll, and they were written again with more words added, so the warnings were repeated.
Those who refused its correction brought judgment on themselves, with evil pronounced upon Jehoiakim and his seed and servants and upon Jerusalem and Judah. The account is to be studied by God's people in the last days as a warning to Battle Creek, because events of Jeremiah's day have parallels in the present. Some in recent years have virtually repeated Jehoiakim's act by burning the messages of the Spirit of God, yet the messages of warning have been repeated.
The princes were sitting in the scribe's chamber in the king's house when Baruch was brought to them with the roll he had already read to the people, and they asked him to sit down and read Jeremiah's written message of reproof aloud in their hearing, which he did. That reading carried out God's purpose that Judah might hear all the evil purposed against them, that every man might return from his evil way, and that He might forgive their iniquity and sin. Hearing the words made the princes afraid, so they said they would surely tell the king all the words, asked Baruch how he wrote all the words at Jeremiah's mouth, and told Baruch and Jeremiah to go hide where no one knew.
Hearing did not guarantee acceptance, for the people would not receive the reproofs the Lord had sent them. The king later rejected the roll, cutting it with a penknife and burning it in the fire despite intercession. The message could not be destroyed, for God commanded that all the former words be written on another roll, and they were written again with more words added, so the warnings were repeated.
Those who refused its correction brought judgment on themselves, with evil pronounced upon Jehoiakim and his seed and servants and upon Jerusalem and Judah. The account is to be studied by God's people in the last days as a warning to Battle Creek, because events of Jeremiah's day have parallels in the present. Some in recent years have virtually repeated Jehoiakim's act by burning the messages of the Spirit of God, yet the messages of warning have been repeated.